PV puts new parking lot, traffic pattern into effect
River Vale residents to experience most drastic of traffic pattern changes
Pascack Valley unveiled it’s new parking lot and traffic pattern on the first day of school on Thursday, September 1.
When Pascack Valley students and parents arrived for the first day of school last Thursday, they were greeted with the long-anticipated redesigned parking lot and its corresponding new traffic pattern.
A total of 26 new spaces were added in place of the old tennis courts, according to PV Assistant Principal Mr. John Puccio. Plans originally included the addition of 42 parking spaces, but as construction went on, that number was downgraded. Of these new spots, 19 are designated for faculty members and administrators, and seven are designated for students.
The administrators who used to park in the front of the school now use the new faculty spots. Teachers who swing back and forth between Pascack Valley and Pascack Hills and previously had to coordinate and share spaces with other teachers will now be able utilize these new spots as well. This leaves the 11 parking spots in front of the school open for visitors parking, an upgrade from the previous two.
However, according to PV Principal Tom DeMaio, the new parking spaces were not the only cause for the change. “The whole reason for the project was to change the traffic flow,” DeMaio said, “and if we could pick up some spots along the way, that was an added plus.”
The new traffic flow mostly affects people traveling west on Piermont Ave, primarily River Vale residents. They now have to turn right into the entrance of the faculty parking lot and loop around the newly designed parking lot. Students are dropped off at the side of the school and then utilize the New Gym entrance. Parents then merge into the front of the school. This traffic pattern is only in effect from 7:30 a.m. – 8 a.m. Prior to and after this time period, people coming from the west are able to turn right directly to the front of the school.
People traveling east on Piermont Ave, primarily Hillsdale residents, turn left into the front of the school, as they would have in previous years. Students must make an immediate right to merge into the faculty parking lot in order to get to the student parking lot (0:29 of the following video).
These new changes come as a result of various safety and traffic concerns. One of the main concerns was the safety of students leaving out the side entrances, where a narrow road was pinched between the side entrances of the school and the old tennis courts. Many buses from other schools would often park there as well, making it even tighter of a space. A new sidewalk has been built along these side entrances to address this problem, and there are also new lanes for buses involved with extracurriculars to utilize.
“You literally opened up the [new gymnasium] door and there was the roadway and that was in two way traffic,” DeMaio said. “Ultimately, it was about trying to create safer travelling environments.”
PV buses will be unaffected by these changes and will still pull into the front of the school. However, administration is hoping that buses will be able to utilize the old bus lanes at the front of the school more readily after school, since vistor parking has been installed. This would theoretically result in students and faculty both being able to leave the parking lot while buses are still on campus.
Along with the safety of the students, administrators were concerned with alleviating congestion on Piermont Ave in the mornings. Since the point where two lanes, from the east and west of Piermont Ave, merge into one has moved on campus, administrators are hoping that it will have a positive impact on the traffic that was constantly on the road during drop-offs in the morning.
“I think what it’s going to do is take some of the traffic that was out on Piermont, and move it on campus,” DeMaio said. “It will, hopefully, make crossing the road safer and drop offs quicker.”
Plans to redesign the parking lot had been underway for the past five years, since discussion of replacing the old tennis courts with new ones at the back of the school surfaced. With the the new tennis courts having been completed last year, plans for the new parking lot were solidified just before graduation and tweaked as construction went on. Construction started on June 21, though preliminary measures such as fence removal on June 13.
There were originally proposals to turn the one-way entrance to the front of the school into a two-way street, but this proposal from the administration was blocked by the county. There was fear that the change would create a blind corner from the left.
“We’re restricted in getting off this property,” DeMaio said. “We looked at a whole bunch of different ways to do this and we felt this had the best potential.”
“We’ll see how it goes,” DeMaio continued. “The biggest challenge is getting everyone to understand the traffic flow and some of the restrictions that are there.”
